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I’ll Use This Do-Over to Become the Ideal Lady’s Maid!

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By Saki Ichibu and Cocosuke. Released in Japan as “Yarinaoseru Mitai nano de, Kondo Koso Akogare no Jijo wo Mezashimasu!” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma.

This is actually a very good book once you get past the rather odd premise. I am aware that Japan has a sort of maid THING, in all sorts of ways. And yes, I am sure that this also extends to the fantasy worlds that they write about, such as the one we see here. It just seems a bit weird to me to have the heroine, a noble lady who has the power to manipulate time and works for the royal family, saying that her goal after graduation is to go be a maid for some rich girl. Now, of course she imprinted on her own maid as a girl and wants to follow in her footsteps, and the maid described here is also a bodyguard and butler and every other thing you can think of. But it’s still kind of like someone graduating from Yale and deciding, instead of getting their doctorate, to go to a vo tech. That said, that’s fine too. She knows what she wants.

Emma Seagrove is rather startled to wake up one morning to find she’s got to get ready for her first day at the magical academy. She’s startled because, while she has time travel powers, she’s not supposed to use them to change history, and she did NOT deliberately go back in time! No matter how much she wanted to. Because she’s from 4 years in the future, after she graduated, and the night before she was dumped by her fiance publicly at a party so that he could marry her best friend. (You know, the usual Villainess plot.) Still, now that she IS here she might as well make the most of it. After testing things to see if she CAN change the future (yes, she can), she dedicates herself to making her original dream come true that she had to abandon the first time around: become a maid!

Once you get past the premise, the book itself is quite well done. The “bad guy”, her ex-fiance Bernard, is used very sparingly, mostly because he’s the only character in the book who is truly vile. I was a bit worried about Annette, her best friend, who is someone who “excels at getting others to take care of and spoil her”. The author’s other series, Formerly the Fallen Daughter of the Duke, has a very annoying character who runs along similar lines. But Annette surprised me near the end of the book with a plot twist that I should have seen coming but did not. And of course there’s also a romance here as well, but it takes a back seat to Emma trying to get out of her engagement and learn maid skills – something that is actually MUCH HARDER because, in this new go-round, she has far more magical power than she used to. Emma is a very likeable heroine, and you want her to succeed.

This is a single-volume series, so I definitely recommend giving it a try, as it won’t become a potential financial and time burden. Hope you love maids, though. But who doesn’t?

Lovestruck Prince! I’ll Fight the Heroine for my Villainous Fiancée!, Vol. 2

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By Shakushineko and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Betabore no Kon’yakusha ga Akuyaku Reijō ni Saresō nanode Heroine gawa ni wa Sore Sōō no Mukui o Ukete Morau” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Mittt Liu.

As with so many of these books that are written as one-offs but unexpectedly become popular, the subtitle to this second volume is inaccurate. The “heroine” of the first book is still being emotionally tortured by sadistic magic expert Raphael, and doesn’t figure into this volume. A more accurate subtitle might be “I’ll Fight the Foreign Prince for My Villainous Fiancée!”. As with the first book, Elizabeth is about as villainous as a wet rag, but due to plot circumstances we do get to see her acting the part near the end. This is actually the funniest moment in the book, as she’s absolutely terrible at being bad, even if it’s for good reasons. As for the series itself, it remains “decent”. There’s nothing overtly wrong with it, and the main couple are sweet, but unfortunately it also lacks that certain something to make it stand out from the pack.

Things are mostly going well for Vincent and Elizabeth. The young lady plotting their downfall has been dealt with in a vaguely creepy but also pretty permanent manner. The guy who was also antagonizing them is now under house arrest. And they’ve even managed to confess to each other in the shyest, most adorable way possible. What could possibly go wrong? Well, for a start, Lord Lars is back, and he’s now a dragon. A tiny dragon the size of a cat. And seems to have very little memory of being Lars except a vague “I am imprinted on Elizabeth” sort of way. More importantly, there are visitors from the neighboring kingdom of Orion, which is currently undergoing a bit of a throne war. In that case, why is Second Prince Leohardt arriving to study at the academy? And why is he bringing along a baron’s daughter who can barely string two sentences together without screwing up?

The most interesting part of this book is how they set things up so that Lecia, the aforementioned baron’s daughter, can marry the First Prince. Normally the status difference would be far too great, so everyone assumes that the second prince is going to unseat his brother from the throne and thus make it OK for him to marry Lecia. But no, Leohardt is craftier than that (a lot is made about his demonic smile throughout the book). The plan they have instead is a bit of an ass pull (it’s fortunate that a mere baron’s daughter can punch out all that magic after simply seeing one traumatic event) but I’m OK with the handwave, especially as it allows our “villainess” to show off her absolutely terrible acting chops. Leohardt is also very interested in Elizabeth… supposedly, this may also be a lie… but by now she is very firm at rejecting other suitors. We even get a few more scenes from her POV, which were welcome.

There is a third book in this series, and judging by the wedding outfits on the cover it’s the final one. Given that Vincent can’t even bring himself to kiss Elizabeth on the lips, they likely need to third volume to build up the nerve. Recommended for those who like adorable dorks being dorky.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 1

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By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

Just because a series is trying to be “Slow Life” does not mean that it can’t make things difficult for our protagonist. We can’t all get magical farming implements and a harem of young girls, or find that we have the power to control slimes that can do virtually anything. Sometimes even OP is not enough if you don’t know how to use it, and are in the middle of nowhere. This does, though, make it rewarding, for those who can tolerate a book starts starts very slowly, to see Sara slowly figure out things like how not to immediately get eaten by wolves, or which magical herbs will net the most cash when her mentor/older sister figure takes them into town. And then even that is taken away from her, and she’s forced to go on a perilous journey to find her guardian, make friends, and deal with the worst of isekai enemies: that jerk from that one guild.

Sarasa has spent her entire life in Japan feeling drained of energy, just lethargic all the time. Then one day, coming home from work, she ends up in the realm of a goddess, who explains that the reason she has so little energy is her body was designed to run on mana, which our world doesn’t have. The goddess proceeds to reincarnate her in a world which has TOO MUCH mana, where Sarasa (shortened to Sara) can be a mana sponge. Sadly, she’s dropped in the middle of nowhere on a mountain surrounded by dangerous animals. But there is one young woman there, a mysterious hunter named Nelly, who will help Sara get accustomed to things, give her a textbook on how to learn magic, and help her build up the stamina needed for a five-day trip into town. Which she will need, as after two years or so of slow life cabin living, Nelly doesn’t come back one day, so Sara goes to search for her.

I enjoyed most of this book, so let’s start with a quibble. I get that for most writers now the isekai is just a necessary evil to get readers to start the book, but don’t be so half-assed about it! The goddess handwaves the fact that Sarasa isn’t even run over by a truck, saying “I’ll explain things to your family”, and Sarasa just sort of shrugs? Other than that, this i a solid fantasy. Sara is very likeable, which helps get us through the first third of the book or so, which is mainly her slowly learning how to use magic. The second half gets her into town, where she meets a best friend, who has his own issues, and together the two of them deal with prejudice against those who were not already born into privilege, and we discover that Nelly was absolutely not a normal everyday hunter… and Sara is also far from normal as well.

So yeah, another book to throw on the decent isekai pile. Plus it has a great running gag! I love great running gags, especially if they involve wolves.